In a general manner this device is of interest to industries or in activities where it is necessary to make use of individual or repeated blows.
Percussion appliances of this kind are already known and are called electromagnetic hammers. At present they are generally restricted to low powers and comprise a movable assembly suitable to be set into to-and-fro motion by the action of impulsive forces arising from an electromagnetic field.
In its usual form of construction the motor device of such a hammer comprises a fixed electromagnet whose coil is intermittently energized to attract a core which forms part of a movable assembly comprising a percussion or ram tool.
To create the transient magnetic field, the coil of the eletromagnet must be supplied with electric current pulses of short duration, corresponding to an expenditure of energy which, converted into power, may attain a very high value.
If the coil were directly connected to a source of energy, the latter would not always be capable of supplying the instantaneous power required; in the case where that source is a utility mains, disturbances could occur in the supply network.
To obtain steady operation it is also necessary that the pulses of electric energy should be of constant value and duration.